***disclaimer: Some gang references included and community violence.***

In this week’s episode Laura and Katie speak with Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn. This interview helps to clarify the role of District Attorney Flynn in our community and what his prosecution of an individual with a disability can look like. He offers some insight to his side of the bench and how the court is working with educators and the community for a more proactive approach for making the streets safe.

In this episode, Katie and Laura talk to Kristen Luppino-Gholston, LMSW with the CAUSE program at DAEMEN college. She is the interim director and tells us all about the program! CAUSE- Center for Allied and Unified Sport and Exercise, provides opportunities for persons with disabilities. The program is a collaboration of Daemen College students and people with developmental disabilities in the community. Over 170 Daemen students have engaged in the CAUSE program!

Please join Kristen and the Parent Network Family on January 15 for Rec Fest to learn more about this great program and other community recreational opportunities!

In this episode Katie and Laura are speaking with Dr. Anahita Ball from the School of Social Work at the University at Buffalo. Dr. Ball speaks to us about Family Engagement and how parents and schools can have a healthy relationship. We explore what potential barriers exist for parents that may be in their way when communicating with professionals in the school. Dr. Ball speaks to some of the challenges that may be in the way for teachers and how we can all collaborate and facilitate a healthy learning and loving environment for our children and students.

In this episode of the Parent Network Pod, Katie and Laura are speaking with Susan Barlow of the Parent Network of WNY and Tara Burgess from EPIC (Every Person Influences Children) Susan and Tara inform our listeners about the importance of Family Engagement for both parents/caregivers and professionals. If you would like more information about Family Engagement please attend the Family Engagement Conference!

Inclusive Classrooms and what parents need to know. Diane will talk about how a parent can collaborate with teachers and professionals at school to increase advocacy and self-advocacy for their children in the school setting.

Written and produced by Parent Network of WNY, podcast engineering by Daniel Vander Kooy
and music is Morning Mandolin by Chris Haugen.

Today Katie and Laura speak to Diana Vigrass. She talks to us about Inclusive Classrooms and what parents need to know. Diane will talk about how a parent can collaborate with teachers and professionals at school to increase advocacy and self-advocacy for their children in the school setting. What can we say or do especially when our children are reaching their teenage years and we feel they may not be ready to go out into the real world?

Individualized Education Plans are a very powerful tool. Katie explains the ins and outs of IEP process, the different parts of the document, and how to use your student’s IEP to improve her/his educational outcomes.

The benefits are wonderful for the children involved and you can teach your child their own self-advocacy!

We take a look at what do you do with all that paperwork? Our friends at Understood.org have fantastic downloads and videos to teach you how to create a binder for your child’s paperwork. Especially all of those evaluations that float around our houses!

Written and produced by Parent Network of WNY, podcast engineering by Daniel Vander Kooy
and music is Morning Mandolin by Chris Haugen.

To kick off our series we start with a focus on self-care and how to transition from the lack of structure in the summer to the rigor that happens in the school year. We love this article by the Washington Post and its parent centered idea to helping parents out with the start of the new school year!